Abstract: The present invention is directed at genetically engineered form of a naturally PHA producing microorganism, which has an increased number of copies, compared to the wild type microorganism, of at least one gene coding a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase, wherein said increased number of copies provides a balanced overproduction of said PHA synthase, and eventually causing the microorganism to overproduce medium- or long-chain-length PHAs in an amount of at least 1.2 times compared to the wild type after 24 h, wherein the reference condition for assessing the overproduction is modified MM medium containing 15 mM sodium octanoate. The production of PHAs in the microorganism can in addition be favourably influenced by the inactivation of genes encoding for proteins involved in the degradation of PHA, resulting in an even increased production of the microorganism of this compound without a decline in the PHA content over time. The inventive microorganisms are useful in the commercial production of PHAs.

Abstract: The present application is directed at microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas as deposited under DSM26199 (Pseudomonas sp. IPB-B26) and DSM26200 (Pseudomonas sp, N-128) with the Leibnitz Institute DSMZ. The present application is further directed at a process for the production of medium- and long-chain-length PHAs, comprising cultivating said microorganisms in a culture medium comprising a carbon source and isolating the PHA from the microorganisms. It has been observed that these microorganisms allow for efficient PHA production in high yields. In addition, the inventive microorganisms possess the valuable capability to incorporate unsaturated fatty acids into the resulting PHAs. The inventive microorganisms thus enable a later modification of the PHAs as well as cross-linking, thus opening new fields of applications for these materials.

Abstract: The present application is directed at a microorganism of the genus Pseudomonas as deposited under DSM26198 with the Leibnitz Institute DSMZ. The present application is further directed at a process for the production of medium- and long-chain PHAs, comprising cultivating said microorganism in a culture medium comprising a carbon source and isolating the PHA from the microorganism. It has been observed that the microorganism allows for PHA production in high yield. In addition, the inventive microorganism possesses the valuable capability to efficiently incorporate unsaturated and/or aromatically modified fatty acids into the resulting PHAs. Accordingly, the inventive microorganism enables the production of chemically diverse PHAs, opening new fields of applications for these materials.